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May 7, 2018

US lawmakers set $717 billion defense bill with eye on China, Russia, Turkey

US House of Representatives lawmakers released details on Friday of a
$717 billion annual defense policy bill, including efforts to compete
with Russia and China and a measure to temporarily halt weapons sales to
Turkey.
The House Armed Services Committee is due to debate next
week the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which
authorizes the level of defense spending and sets policies controlling
how the funding is used.
One of the few pieces of major
legislation passed by Congress every year, the NDAA is used as a vehicle
for a broad range of policy measures, as well as determining everything
from military pay levels and benefits to which ships or aircraft will
be modernized, purchased or discontinued.
The committee will not
release the bill itself until next week, but Republicans, who control
the panel, and the minority Democrats, each released summaries.
On
Russia, the proposed NDAA for fiscal year 2019 includes provisions such
as imposing new sanctions on Russia’s arms industry in response to
treaty violations, prohibiting military-to-military cooperation and
providing more funding for cyber warfare.
But it also includes a
rule, backed by President Donald Trump’s fellow Republicans, that would
allow Trump to end some sanctions imposed on Russia in legislation
Congress passed overwhelmingly last summer despite the president’s
objections.
On China, the proposed NDAA includes provisions
including improving Taiwan’s defense capabilities and barring any US
government agency from using “risky” technology produced by Huawei
Technologies and ZTE Corp, which a committee statement describes as
“linked to the Chinese Communist Party’s intelligence apparatus.”
Washington has recently made a series of moves aimed at stopping or
reducing access by Huawei and ZTE to the US economy amid allegations the
telecommunications equipment companies could be using their technology
to spy on Americans.
The legislation would also ask the Defense
Department to provide Congress with a report on the relationship between
the United States and Turkey, and would block the sale of major defense
equipment until the report was complete.

Although Turkey is a NATO ally, relations between Ankara and
Washington recently have deteriorated. Turkey supported the US fight
against Islamic State, but has become increasingly worried about US
backing for Kurdish fighters in Syria.
The NDAA is several steps
from becoming law. The final version of the legislation will be a
compromise reached later this year by House and Senate negotiators
between separate versions of the bill approved in the two chambers.